Chapter 471: Prison of Time

The story of Mr. Xu No. 21531 violating the regulations started a few hours ago.

There were no single cells in the Time Prison, and all prisoners lived in six-person rooms. Probably because he went there early and it was not yet time for collective labor, so when Xu Zhiyan entered the room, he saw five weird guys with clock heads huddled together in the corner, hugging their knees...

Hearing the sound of a door closing behind him, Xu Zhiyan paused and looked around.

Yes, \8 was indeed squatting in the corner.

A sense of peace as if he would be buried soon was transmitted from the watchman. If he ignored the location and only looked at the strange movements, he might think that this was not a prison but a curry-scented yoga studio where one could completely relax both body and mind.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Zhiyan slowly moved over, squatted carefully, and shook his hands.

"……Hi."

An awkward yet polite greeting.

No clockmaker responded.

They just turned their heads collectively, with the large and small dials facing the people who came. After a few seconds, they turned back and continued to keep their hands on their knees.

Considering that the clock people were not in danger, Xu Zhiyan also bravely imitated them and squatted in the corner with his knees hugged.

Although I don't know what the meaning of this group of watchmakers doing this is, I'll just try to integrate into it first.

Just like that, he squatted with the clock people, hugging his knees, without moving for twenty minutes. It was not until the sound of a horn sounded outside that Xu Zhiyan looked at the clock people expectantly.

Still no response.

"Didn't the horn in the morning remind us to go out to work?" He wondered if he had remembered it wrong.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, the cursing and urging voices of the prison guards were heard in the prison corridor, and the watchmen around them reluctantly stood up, walked to the door, stood in a row, and waited for the prison guards to open the door.

Xu Zhiyan fell at the end of the team.

While waiting, he whispered, "I'm new here, so it's OK for me to stand here with you guys, right?"

This time, after a minute, the clock man standing in the third position answered.

"Um."

The resident answered calmly and indifferently, as if he didn't care that he was already dead.

But at least they were communicating. Xu Zhiyan raised a standard smile, looked at the clock man who responded to his questions, and tried hard to remember the other's characteristics.

Great! Let's follow it!

To be honest, before coming here, Xu Zhiyan wondered if there would be discrimination between old employees and new employees. Now he realized that he was worrying too much. Several of his 'predecessors' looked like oversized super mushrooms. Although there was no bullying, it was still a bit troublesome.

"Hey, come out quickly."

The prison guard's voice interrupted Xu Zhiyan's thoughts.

He shrank his neck and followed his fellow cellmate, the clock man, as obedient as a quail from the same nest.

Passing through the long corridors and halls, and passing through several closed rooms, more and more watchmakers joined the team and went to where the prisoners worked.

But this place of labor is a little... weird.

It was neither a stone factory nor a sewing machine factory. The prison guards sent rows of watchmakers in batches to a large square. Even though the square was large, there were so many watchmakers that they almost occupied the entire square.

Although Xu Zhiyan looked a little out of place among them, it didn't have much of an impact.

After everyone gathered, a prison guard came over carrying a flower pot and a bench.

He first placed the bench in the center of the square, and then put the flowers on it. After doing all this, the prison guards on the side gestured to each other, and soon a voice was heard from the prison's public broadcasting.

"Disperse! The work begins!"

Just six simple words.

The instructions were so simple that Xu Zhiyan just stood there stupidly, not knowing what to do.

Except for a few suspected newcomers who were still whispering timidly, most of the other clock people brought to the square showed no emotional fluctuations. After hearing the instructions, they moved their bodies quickly or slowly.

The clock people occupying the square dispersed. Some came to the edge of the square, some leaned against the flower pots, and some were a little more active, looking around for friends... When they found the right position, a familiar scene appeared.

The clock people squatted.

As if they were in the cell, the clockmen huddled together and squatted with their knees hugged.

This damn peaceful feeling is coming again!

“…”

Xu Zhiyan felt as if he was choked by something.

So squatting and hugging your knees is labor? This is too outrageous! He thought he could produce something...

But he had not forgotten the clock man who had just replied.

He did not lose him. Even after the other party found a place to squat, he followed closely and squatted beside him.

Tried to ask for his name, to no avail, the clock man has no name.

"Good Samaritan, what is our labor task?"

Xu Zhiyan said to the watch man beside him.

The kind clock man turned around and looked at him, as if he understood what he meant after a few seconds, and slowly replied: "Help the plants grow."

"Ah? So powerful?" Xu Zhiyan was stunned.

Without waiting for him to ask in detail, the clock man slowly told him the rest.

“We just have to go with the flow of its time.”

Xu Zhiyan frowned slightly.

What the hell, he could understand every word, but when put together it just sounded very philosophical and hard to understand.

Perhaps realizing that his cellmate still didn't understand anything, the kind-hearted watchmaker patiently explained it to him several times.

Half an hour later, Xu Zhiyan's legs were almost numb from squatting, and he finally understood what the labor of a clockmaker was.

No, maybe they should be called fragments of time.

The only thing that needs to happen to the time fragments in the Prison of Time is for them to pass normally.

On the dials above their heads, pointers of different lengths rotate in circles, making pleasant and crisp ticking sounds. Every movement of the second hand means that they have accomplished a little bit of their mission.

The predecessors of the clockmen were not living things. Even if they were forcibly imprisoned in a concrete form, they would always remember their mission. However, the passage of time did not require them to do anything. They only needed to stand or sit there, and time would pass naturally...

No wonder the watchmakers are peaceful and tranquil enough.

"Bai Jin is such a waste of labor!"

Xu Zhiyan was a little shocked.

"Time will pass no matter what you do, so why not find something for everyone to do?"

Although we can't bring anything in, this is a replica created by ghosts and gods. Even if we can't let the clock maker create something, we can knit a scarf, or at worst screw in some screws!

So many honest and well-behaved clockworkers are all free and hardworking labor. Especially in prison, the flow of time is different from that in the real world. If the clockworkers' labor can be used well, wouldn't it be equivalent to having employees who work for free for decades?

As the brainstorming session continued, Xu Zhiyan quickly thought of a lot of assembly line jobs that were suitable for watchmakers to pass the time.

As for the main system? He had automatically put the main system at the end.

At this moment, Xu Zhiyan not only did not want to cause trouble for the main system, but instead thought that since so many clock people could work, he might as well ask the ghosts and gods if he could extend the time in prison a little bit more infinitely. If the main system did not jump out actively, it would be even better, he could work for it until it disappeared.

After squatting with his knees hugged and the watch people for the whole morning, a new plan began to take shape. Xu Zhiyan wished he could go to the ghosts and gods to discuss setting up a factory in the prison.

There was a little incident in the middle.

The prison guard suddenly came and called out the numbers of several prisoners. Even though the numbers were already very clear, the group of clock-watchers squatting together still looked at each other, pushing each other, and no one was willing to go out.

Xu Zhiyan thought about the times he was pushed when he came here, and realized that these clock people had no ill intentions in pushing him, they simply had social phobia and didn't want to leave the team alone.

During lunch, Xu Zhiyan followed the Kind Clock Man closely. He even secretly gave him a nickname, "Kind Clock Man".

Probably because they were familiar with each other, the kind-hearted man who sat down with his plate finished his meal and hesitated for a long time before speaking softly: "How is your time?"

"Ah?" Xu Zhiyan, with white rice still stuffed in his mouth, looked confused.

Time? What time?

Although he didn't understand what the other person was saying, his eyes rolled and his whole face fell.

Since the other party was hesitant to ask, it must not be a good thing. Xu Zhiyan took over the conversation and said, "Not very good. I don't know why I became like this..."

The ambiguous answer really made the kind-hearted watch even more confused.

Just when Xu Zhiyan was curious, the pointer above the other person's head suddenly accelerated and turned several circles.

“Tick-tock—”

Xu Zhiyan listened to the sound of the second hand ticking rapidly. The sound seemed to come from his head, making his head numb.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and looked down at the dining table.

In the vegetable soup that was so clear that one could see a person's reflection in it, Xu Zhiyan saw the changes happening behind him.

A translucent golden dial appeared behind him, which was larger than his head. It hovered around the back of his neck and head, emitting a bright white light. If it weren't for the complicated Roman text on it, it would have seemed like Buddha's nature just by looking at it.

The hands of the kindness watch returned to normal.

It stood up with the plate in hand and said to Xu Zhiyan, "Now your time is normal."

“…It’s shocking.”

Xu Zhiyan murmured.

For the first time, he felt the physical flow of time.

No one said anything, but he saw the pattern of the flow in the air. The two hours he got from the kind watch became the time he could control completely. While consuming this time, his own time stopped.

Time is in constant motion.

But each person has only one timeline at a time.

Now, he has two timelines, which means that if he is seriously injured, he can stop his original timeline and let the time he just got replace the original timeline to flow, so as to delay time for the body... No, there should be other richer uses!

Once again, he experienced the beauty of power.

Two hours is too little.

More... He wants more!

By the time the two of them put away their plates and returned to the dormitory, Xu Zhiyan had already asked everything about the flow of time and how the clock man could transmit time.

As soon as he entered the dormitory, his face was full of smiles. He couldn't wait to take out the dice and poker cards he had received from the prison guards, and shook them to the two watchmakers who had returned earlier and had not yet squatted in the corner, inviting them to play cards together.

“Very interesting entertainment.”

"Time will pass when we play cards anyway, so why don't we play while waiting for time to pass?"

He grasped the clock people accurately. When he checked the prison just now, the new clock people were obviously much more active, which means that the concrete fragments of time should still be more like humans. But why do these guys in the prison always look so lifeless? It's probably because they are too bored and have nothing to do.

The two watchmakers looked at each other, nodded hesitantly, and finally said the first words after seeing Xu Zhiyan.

"good."

"How do you play?"

Xu Zhiyan smiled even more and pulled the kind-hearted friend beside him over.

"It's very simple. I'll teach you."

"But just playing cards is boring. There has to be some stakes to make it fun..."

The two clock men did not realize at this time what they were about to experience.

…

By the time it was time to go out for some fresh air in the afternoon, the time Xu Zhiyan had been stuck in a card game had increased from two hours to three days. He used his inherent advantage in playing cards to mercilessly beat his roommates. After he had defeated all his roommates except the kind-hearted friend, he stood up, patted his trousers, and put away the cards.

Although the clock people are slow, they are also intelligent creatures. If they continue to fight, they will completely learn it. He will have to change a few targets to win.

It just so happens that I can move freely in the afternoon...

…

In the warden's office, Xu Zhiyan's hands were tied behind his back, unable to move. He lay on the ground with an angry expression.

"Sir, that's pretty much it."

"I picked up a deck of cards in the square, but there were no prison guards around, so I asked someone. Heaven and earth are my witnesses. I just wanted to return the cards..."

Of course, it is impossible to tell the truth.

"Warden! My Lord! I am innocent!" Xu Zhiyan cried out loudly, as if the month he had to bear behind him had fallen from the sky.

Damn! Which watchmaker is so unwilling to lose that he actually resorts to reporting?

The faceless prison guard who was taking notes paused for a moment, raised his head and added in a low voice: "But when we received the report and went to check, you were still playing cards with others and won a lot..."

I don’t know why, but I felt very cold the moment I opened my mouth.

The prison guard's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared. Its keen intuition made it realize that it should shut up.

The uniformed ghost pursed his lips tightly, emitting a chilling low pressure from the inside out. He glanced at the data given by the rules on the side.

[Prisoner No. 21531 seriously violated the regulations and was sentenced to 30 lashes and 30 days of solitary confinement.]

“What if he’s not put in solitary confinement?” He frowned slightly.

[Five hundred lashes are required.] The information on the data board became very exaggerated.

After a while, He spoke in a low voice.

"Change it to five hundred lashes, no confinement, I will carry out the execution."

【The modification was successful.】

With just one sentence, Xu Zhiyan's punishment was modified.

"...Five hundred?" He twisted his body twice, as if he didn't understand why the ghosts and gods would rather whip him five hundred times than put him in solitary confinement.

In prison, however, the warden's orders are not amended.

Guishen glanced at the prison guard standing beside him and said calmly, "Execute it here. I'll do it."

After being glanced at, the faceless prison guard's legs went weak. He immediately took out the barbed punishment whip from his waist and handed it over. After his superior took it, he ran away without stopping.

The rope became tighter and tighter, and his wrists were rubbed red. Seeing that the NPC had left and there were only two people left in the office, Xu Zhiyan simply lay on the ground and pretended to be dead, mumbling to himself.

"My Lord Qingtang, five hundred lashes? Are you trying to beat me to death?"

Damn it, if he catches someone reporting him for playing cards, he’ll have to take all of their time away!

It was a rare sight to see Xu Zhiyan being humiliated, and the ghosts and gods could not help but laugh softly.

“Crash——”

The table was full of ornaments and items that fell to the ground.

"Let's fight right here." His smiling voice became much hoarser.

The ghost did not untie the rope. Instead, he picked up the tightly tied young man with one hand and put him on the desk. Xu Zhiyan could only move his two legs, so he naturally hooked his client's waist to prevent himself from falling.

Before Xu Zhiyan could speak, he saw Guishen taking off his fur collared cloak, followed by buttons and belt...

"...Hey, isn't it too inhumane to treat a wrongly accused prisoner like this?" Xu Zhiyan's body tensed up for a moment. Although he could conclude from the slices of the ghost that the other party was most likely a pervert, he felt that he might need some time to accept such a trick.

The next second, the man, who had taken off his upper body clothes and revealed his muscular chest, raised his hand and touched his sweetheart's chin.

"Are you scared now?"

He lowered his head and kissed her, holding Xu Zhiyan's waist with both hands.

"The rules of the confinement room have not been revised yet, and someone must take responsibility for the punishment..." A gentle explanation and a hot kiss fell on Xu Zhiyan's ears at the same time. He suppressed the violent and hot thoughts in his body and gently tore off the prison uniform.

“Offices can blur some of the rules.”

How could he bear to see Xu Zhiyan being beaten?

But he really didn't expect the other party to be so active. Before he had spent a lot of time and effort to modify the rules, he had already committed serious violations. The speed was so fast that no one could catch up.

A ball of black mist came out from nowhere, rolled up the punishment whip, and moved to the back of the desk and behind Bai Jin.

“Pah—”

The long whip was swung down suddenly, making a sharp sound in the air.

However, the man who was whipped seemed to be fine and was still talking in a gentle voice to his sweetheart who was pressed on the table.

"I'll take the whipping for you, will you accompany me?"

His voice was unusually hoarse, full of lingering love, and the burning desire in his eyes almost burned Xu Zhiyan.

Soon, amid the sound of whips coming from the office, there was also the sound of a young man sobbing softly.